Newly Distributed ‘Highlander’ Virus Casts Doom for Computers

Fresh computer-virus named Ainslot.L, which's spreading via fake e-mails, is transmitting passwords for Facebook and Gmail accounts to con artists, pulling down additional malware, hijacking the infected PCs and serving like a Banker Trojan's key payload for theft of account log-ins, publishes DANIWEB dated February 18, 2012.

Further, the Ainslot.L-infected bot-network utilizes the computers' joint strength for hackers to aim attack on other websites alternatively let them stay hidden behind the bots.

Additionally, the e-mail through which the virus disseminates asserts it's from CULT one Garment Company. The message cautions recipients about one fake order they supposedly registered with CULT whose cost-price the company shall draw from their debit/credit cards. Now, if end-users follow the given web-link for seeing the particular order, they'd actually pull down the virus. Here, security expert Luis Corrons stated that different from blundering assertions by fake Nigerian windfall transfer e-mails; which clever PC-users easily identify, the 'Highlander' malware associates with one bizarrely persuasive e-mail. New York Post published this on February 17, 2012.

Meanwhile, there's another bizarre trick Ainslot.L plays viz. scanning end-users' computers to determine if more bot-related contaminations like DarkComet or ZeuS exists so it'll eliminate it. Surely, Ainslot.L doesn't perform this as if for cleaning the target PC, but instead for making sure it's the sole malware on it and thus is accessing all the system resources and acquiring the entire data.

Moreover, immediately when Ainslot.L gets loaded onto a system, it modifies the Registry entries for making sure it'll run at every start-up of the computer, as also will elude the firewall and thereby be especially troublesome. The virus acts effectively towards concealing its actual purpose since users usually don't consider altering system defaults, which conceal notorious .exe files, thereby keeping them off visibility.

Corrons continues that Ainslot.L's cleansing of other malware off contaminated computers surely caught their notice. The virus beats all competitions, making the PCs helpless. phishing e-mails normally aren't so effective. Undoubtedly, the fraudsters here have acted extremely cautious towards making the related e-mail appear the maximum authentic for victimizing the maximum possible number of PCs, Corrons contends. MailOnline reported this on February 17, 2012.

Related article: Newly-Discovered Murofet Botnet Accredited With Greater Danger

» SPAMfighter News - 2/27/2012